Halford & Brough in the Morning - What Is This Canucks Team's Identity?

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason talk the latest Canucks news with analyst Randip Janda (1:07), plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's Randeeb, Randeeb Janda time. It's Randeeb Janda. It is Randeeb, Randeeb Janda. It is Randeeb talking hockey now. Oh. 804 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brown sports net six 50. Halford and Brown for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for sales, financing, service, or parts. We are an hour three of the program. Randy Janda is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our three hour three of this program. It's brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Our next guest is a presentation of bells and whistles. Joining us now, Randeeb Janda here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Randy, how are you? Good morning, boys. I'm not gonna lie, after last night's game, I woke up a little later today.

I wanted to sleep in, I wanted to react and recover from last night's game. That was a rough one. Do you wanna do a fun exercise to kick off the hit today? Let's do it, let's do it. We have been tasked with trying to come up with a Mount Rushmore. So the top four worst Canucks losses of the season.

We were so good at this, Randy, that we came up with two Mount Rushmores basically. All right. So we've got just to throw some at you, I'll give you time to think here. The blown lead against the Kraken just prior to the new year, that was a bad one. The blown lead against the Flames in the opener, that was bad. You can throw last night's game onto the pile, that wasn't very good. 5-2 loss at home to the Islanders,

which was also Dakota Joshua's emotional return in his season debut and recovery from testicular cancer. The 6-0 loss to the Devils at home, 7- three loss to the oilers at home. Five, one loss to the Bruins at home, or hey, why not? The three, nothing loss to the predators at home. So feel free to take your pick, Randy. Yeah, I'm going to go with maybe because it's fresh. I feel like that Winnipeg game at two, nothing, it felt like it was over because Winnipeg simply doesn't drop points.

They're one of the stingiest teams. And that was a rough one. Other than that, the Seattle comeback at the final five minutes, like that's on my Mount Rushmore. The Islanders won because it was the Islanders, right? Like when you get beaten by a New Jersey who's got firepower, that's one thing, but we were all talking about it, how the Islanders are kind of lifeless.

And in that game, it was one way traffic for them. So you got to slap them on that Mount Rushmore. And the last one, I feel like it has to be Calgary. It was the first game of the season. It kind of really started things off, um, with the inconsistency with this team. So I'm going to go Winnipeg, the Seattle come back, uh, the New York Islanders game and Calgary as

the opener that got things going. There's, there's my four. Randy, we are on exactly the same page. I think you did wake up early and listen to me rattle off mine. You're both wrong because the New Jersey game was the worst game I've seen all year, but I digress.

This is a fun debate, isn't it? Like we're debating, it's half the season and we've got some great candidates for a Mount Rushmore of bad losses by the Canucks. I mean, if that doesn't demonstrate the inconsistency of this team, which is by the way, barely out of a playoff spot right now, then I don't know what does. Yeah. And it's, you know,

I'd love for it to be a Mount Rushmore of great team wins, but hopefully that's coming in the second half of the season. I think yesterday's game, obviously it's an eye-opener because you know that excuse of not being healthy is no longer there with Philip Rona coming back with everybody being healthy other than Dakota Joshua but when we're talking about the top five or six pieces of this team them being there and then being ready to play. Uh, now it's go time guys. And listen, you know, we can, the excuses we talked about it a fair bit too. If, Hey, this team is just trying to stay in that hunt, stay in that playoff race and, and once they get healthy, it'll be good.

Uh, yesterday where a couple of things happened after that two, nothing goal. As I mentioned, it just felt like it was, yeah, you're not coming back in this game. It was the opposite of the Toronto game where it felt like there was a real lack of life. And, and the things we praised this team for in that Toronto game, the commitment, um, wasn't there, there was no fight or pushback. So it gets real now and you know, any excuses, health,

all of that stuff of saying, Hey, wait till this team is ready to go. Well, it's go time now, second half of the season, they got to start picking up points and they got to pick them up fast. Um, what was the most discouraging thing from last night? Was it the start with Lankton? It was a Lankton's performance overall. Were you at least, were you concerned as I was about just the general

lack of pushback at all? I know Connor Garland said in the aftermath that he actually liked that they didn't quit and I don't necessarily think that they quit but I certainly didn't see anything that was Inspirational after falling behind as a matter of fact after going down three nothing in the first period I thought well, maybe they'll have a good start to the second Boom goal against right away and they got out shot 20 to 10 in the second period Yeah, I thought overall, you know, you're that game, the first period, it goes a certain way, but I expected to see something from the Canucks in terms of a little bit more

of a pushback of, Hey, if we're going to go down in this game, uh, we're going to, we're going to, you know, lean into this and, and play to a, you know, tough to play against mentality at the very least. And I know Kiefer Sherwood had 10 hits in that game. He's flying around, he's doing his thing. But from a team perspective where you fall behind in that game, are you playing to an identity? And that's really the concern I have with this team

is what is their identity? On certain nights we've seen strong destructure, we've seen good decision making, we've seen a team that's tough to play games. I didn't see, we haven't seen that A, consistently enough. We've seen it over a stretch of games on this road trip. So in that moment when you're losing the game, when your team is, maybe your bench is slumping a little bit, what are you pushing back with? Is it a, hey, okay, we're going to go down swing in this game? Or is it a, all right, three, nothing, and we're going to come out with that same energy we had in the first period.

And I thought the first couple of shifts were not that bad, actually. You know, there was, Hoaglander had a chance, Heinen had a chance. But after that, it was shoulder slumped. And I think the most concerning part was, it was there kind of felt like, and you know, Connor Garland is on the ice. He's playing, he felt like they had a push. I didn't see it so much. It felt like they were kind of going through the motions about halfway through the game.

And that's probably the most concerning part. Speaking of Lankton, were you surprised that he got the start over Demko yesterday? I wasn't surprised that he got the start. He's coming off a shutout. He's, you know an individual that felt pretty good in that game uh... john tomorrow's nick robertson with a couple of

excellent chances so you roll with the hot hand uh... but he had a tough game with about one nothing goal uh... is on him ought to make that play give it away and i get back into the crease whatever the circumstances may be whether that shortly in the way of running the two nothing goal i whether that's Schaefli getting in the way or Hronek. The two-nothing goal, I think there's more than just him on that play in terms of coverage, but the rebound is not a good one.

The five-nothing goal, he loses his post and Nino and Nita Ryder is able to bank it off of him. There's a lot of open space there. So it was some inconsistency from him. I didn't have an issue with him getting the start, but the game from Kevin Lankin wasn't a strong one. And if you go back over the last month, and I know this coincides with the team not having a good stretch, but Lankin and stats, he's 873 save percentage. His goals against is not bad, it's still below three, but he hasn't been

as strong as we've seen in the past. And I think that's probably the more the team structure, the more, you know, them having the lack of struggles, but there's been a drop off in a bit in his game as well. So I think yesterday was an example of that, but him getting the start, it was Demko either getting the Winnipeg game or the LA game. You get a shutout against Toronto.

I think you get the benefit of the doubt, but yeah, not the greatest games. And let's be honest, not the greatest of games from any of the players, including Kevin Lankinen. Two part question for you. What's up with JT Miller and what's up with Rick Taukett's deployment of JT Miller? Yeah, I think I'll start with the second part of that question first. I think the, what's up with the deployment of JT Miller is one of two things, right?

We've heard the health issues with JT Miller potentially still being an issue. That might be a part of it, but when you're playing what, 13 and change in a win, when you're playing 14, 30 in a loss, in a loss where you needed goals, and what, nine minutes? I think, Baruff, I saw your tweets from last night.

Well, we were doing the game around nine minutes sub ten minutes through 40 minutes yeah that's also a lack of trust to a certain extent as well and I know he's a star player I know he's an individual that you rely on to get points but even before the two-nothing goal which you could look at that replay and either you know I'm not sure what JT's thinking in that situation or he's not skating back and covering that left side. But even before that, there were a couple of giveaways early, one that led to a premium chance that Tyler Myers blocked, another one that led and in that classic, you know, throw the puck to the middle of

the ice that leads to a chance. There's a couple of moments where you can tell even in his own zone, dropping back, dropping deep, it wasn't offering the best and the most consistent, trusted play for the Vancouver Canucks. So, if you're a coach and you're saying, hey, I need you to be tidy in your own end at the very least, if you're sitting back and if you're you know you're eating pressure are you going to be playing with confidence and and I think with JT Miller we're not seeing the offense the four points against Montreal aside zero points on the rest of the trip but also I think in his own end he's really struggling right now last year it was one of his calling cards where in his own zone he was tidy he was a beast year, we're not seeing that. And whether it's health, whether it's trust, I feel like there's maybe a mix of both things here

and that's why the last couple of games we've seen a real dip in his ice time. We're speaking to Randy Janda here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Randy has mentioned as a presentation of Bells and Whistles, your new favorite place to catch all the action, hockey, football, soccer, and more on Frasier, right in the Frasier hood,

on socials, at Bells at bells and whistles YVR. I know it can be a fool's errand to try and predict what this team is going to do because they are wildly inconsistent. They are consistently inconsistent mind you, but Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings. I am hopeful. I stress hopeful that there will be some semblance of pushback and fight for two reasons. One, they just got torpedoed in Winnipeg and there will be some semblance of pushback and fight for two reasons. One, they just got torpedoed in Winnipeg and there should be some embarrassment from that. Two, the Tanner Janot angle with his illegal hit on Brock Bessowich for his best route of the lineup.

I know Janot got booted out of the game and got a three game suspension, but the pound of flesh narrative for me anyway, it still remains there. So I ask you Randi what are you expecting from the Vancouver Cox when they take on the Kings at home on Thursday? Well they have every reason to be motivated for this game this is a divisional opponent you mentioned the Tanner-Geneau angle and let's be honest guys the last 10 games stretch for this team has been rough you look at that road trip the goal differential is minus six, they got absolutely

smoked in that Winnipeg game last night. So the LA Kings aside, you've got yourself a race for that second wild card spot and now whether the belief is there in the Calgary Flames or not, the fact of the matter is through 43 games, the Calgary Flames are looking like a playoff team. I don't know how long that's going to last, but this is go time for Vancouver. Now you look at the opposition, I think the Geno angle is an interesting one because Brock Besser means a lot to this team. He's there, you know, going back a couple of years, of course, last year, the leading goal scorer. And that was a dirty hit. That was a hit that even though Geno apparently apologized after the game, we know how hockey works. And for a team that requires a spark right now requires some confidence in a

way, this might be the perfect opponent where you can say, Hey, let's rally around this one thing and let's make this a tough game for the LA Kings. Let's make this a tough game for Tanner. You know, I think at this time you need something, you need an emotional spark. So the LA Kings come into town is bad in one way because they're one of the toughest teams, the best teams in the NHL going back about a month. They've gotten really defensively stingy. They're getting contributions from Adrian Kempi and, you know, he's been on a hot streak

over the last little bit. But you know, they don't maybe score the most goals but they they don't allow very much and Jim Hiller has got them going so hey you know from a opposition perspective there are a lot more easier teams to play but if you're looking for that an emotional buy-in like here's an excuse you wanted a rallying cry well there's the Tanner-Geneau angle and there's the angle that you need to you need to settle into playing your style of hockey. We're still trying to figure out what that is for the Vancouver Canucks, but if you want to be a team that's tough to play games and you need some buy-in, this would be the game guys.

The Canucks lack of pushback this year has been noticeable for me speaking solely as an individual, so I gotta ask you, has it been that noticeable for you? I mean, calling and watching all these games? Yeah, I think, you know, the pushback in certain times, you know, the Quinn Hughes, Pure Luke Dubois moment, I thought in the moment, in the short term and the medium term, so to speak, in that game, I think the Canucks did respond in their own way. Kiefer Sherwood went in there, JPMiller.

There was a scrum that ensued. There was immediate pushback. There were moments later on in that game where Dayharnay challenged Dubois. Dub, there was a scrum that ensued, like there was immediate pushback. There were moments later on in that game where Deharne challenged Dubois. Dubois is not a fighter, he's known for avoiding the fights more than anything in the NHL world. So like in that isolated incident, I do feel like, you know, there was a little bit, but consistently, yeah, in games, are you are you taking your pound of flesh, so to speak? We haven't seen that from this team.

Some teams aren't built that way, but I think in any given moment, if your captain is getting roughed up, if there's moments where you need a spark, and I talk about a big hit, and one of the areas that I think this team did have a little bit more intimidation, sometimes it's not actually doing something, it's the threat of doing areas that I think this team did have a little bit more intimidation. Sometimes it's not actually doing something. It's the threat of doing something that provides the pushback. And that's where Zdorov in the second half of the season, you had to keep your head on a swivel, right? Like this guy was going around there and he was trying to swing the momentum

in the, in the favor of his team. And it's not only him. I thought JT Miller last year also did that very consistently early in games, especially where he would, you know, isolate the opposing center and say, hey, Joel Erickson, or, you know, Connor McDavid, or whoever it may be, the first couple of shifts, I am going to dictate how this game is played and it's going to be played physical. I'm not seeing this from this team other than Kiefer Sherwood. And you need a few guys to do that. Part of that is Dakota Joshua has not been playing. That certainly has an impact.

But guys, we're just not seeing them initiate and being really the bullies in these games. Last year, they were the bullies. They were going around. They were asserting themselves. This year, we haven't seen that from the Vancouver Canucks. Skipping ahead here. I know we got a game on Thursday, but Saturday, hockey day in Canada, it'll finish off with the Canucks and Oilers.

What do you guys have planned for the broadcast on Saturday? Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one. Last year we did it in Victoria, which was awesome, close to home. But Canmore, as you guys know, it's a beautiful town and it's a lot of hockey history in Alberta. So we've got a live show. We're going to be on air for six hours. The double header on Hockey Night in Canada,

I apparently going to be like minus 20. So if anybody's got any tips on what a Vancouverite should wear in cold, Alberta weather, please do let me know. But interviews with alumni. We've got a special. A jacket, don't forget a jacket. Okay. All right. I'm going to write that down here.

Okay. And like a heavy jacket. Yeah. Not a windbreaker. Okay. But outside of that, a lot of alumni rolling through, we're going to have some special guests. I'm going to chat with my, hopefully my guy, Kevin BX and Elliot Freeman are going to be in there with everybody and you know we've got a really cool event we're hosting in Canmore as well which is a try hockey event getting folks to try the sport of hockey so I'm excited to have our viewers for hockey night in Canada up in Jabi a lot of them coming in from you know Golden BC or Calgary to take part in the event so very exciting weekend ahead. Yeah looking forward to it. A hat and gloves too.

Still going with the list. All right. Still going with that. Okay, well, pack well. Maybe a scarf. Follow the list. He's still going. And enjoy the weekend, Randy. And have a good call on Thursday too.

Thanks for doing this. We always appreciate it. Oh, sorry, before we let you go, tell everybody about Bells and Whistles. Okay, let's, okay. Today especially, of all the days, it's the North London Derby and I will be filling in with Jamie on Canucks Talk but before I actually do that I'm heading to Bells and Whistles for the North London Derby and their awesome lunch

specials. So 3296, just off of Kingsway, 3296 Fraser street, catch all the hockey, football, soccer, and more, and happy Arupints for 675. Right in the Fraser hood folks. So thank you for that and talk to you guys soon. I believe it's pronounced North London Derby. What did I say? North, but it's North. That's how you really pronounce it.

North London Derby. Enjoy it. Enjoy the match. We need it guys. We need Derby. Enjoy it. Enjoy it Randy. Enjoy the match. We need it guys. We need this win. So, but everybody is awesome. Not just Arsenal fans, all soccer fans, all sports fans. Thanks buddy.

Enjoy the day. See you buddy. Thank you. Randy Bjanda here on the Haliford & Brough show on Sports Night 650. The North London Derby for those not in the know is Arsenal Tottenham. North. That's what it's saying. North, North.

North. I've actually got a, what we learned that is English soccer related. We've been kind of down today, down on the Canucks, not feeling good. How about a little like Cinderella story stuff? I know where you're going with this. Has anyone been following Nottingham Forest?

Up the forest. Yeah. They might not win the league, but it looks like they could be headed to the champions league next season if they continue their run. Yesterday they hosted Liverpool and I just want to play the audio that ended up in a one all draw, but I wanted to play the audio of the first Nottingham Forest goal. This is a team that was a pretty good team in the 80s. Second in the 80s, yeah. And then fell on hard times and has mostly been

playing in the second division and have only been back in the top flight of English football for three years now. And this was how it sounded. Just listen to the excitement of the crowd as Nottingham Forest opened the scoring yesterday against Liverpool. And that's what he and that's what they have been doing all season long. So my question to you is what are their chances of pulling a Leicester City and actually winning

this thing? Is Liverpool just too in control right now? They won't win the title. They won't win the title. If they can make European football, it'll be an amazing story, an amazing story. Right now they're a point up on Arsenal, although Arsenal has a game in hand and if they win today against Tottenham, then they would

leap for a forest, but they're up on Chelsea. They're up on Newcastle, Man City of course is on the outside looking in out of the top four or five right now. Manchester United is way down there. Tottenham is pretty far down there too. So it is a pretty incredible story. A lot of people probably had slot at Nottingham

Forest slotted into like, maybe they can stay up again. Well, they barely avoided relegation last year. They were 17th last year. 17th. They were, I mean, they were six points clear of Luton. So they were safe at the end. It wasn't like the final day of the regular season, like the final match or anything like that. But to go from the depths of the Premier League and barely avoiding relegation. I just thought we needed a good news

story and a bit of a Cinderella story. Hey, what they've done this year is fantastic. They're a really cool story. Probably jinx them. Uh, they've got a very like hilarious and eccentric owner in Evangelos Marinakis, the Greek shipping magnate. Like he's, he's a very colorful character, right? And he's been a big reason why that they've gotten back to their glory.

This is like- So he has spent some money, like he's invested. Yeah, he's like, this is like his thing, right? Um, like forest has become- Like the two things, Greek shipping. Right. And Nottingham Forrest. And Greek shipping is far more lucrative, but Forrest is not a bad gig.

Um, and you, I think you brought up an important thing. If you go back in the annals of English football, even prior to the creation of the Premier League, Nottingham Forrest was one of the elite clubs in England. Not just like- Oh yeah, yeah. They like, prior to the Champions League being known as the Champions League, it used to be called the European Championship, they won it twice. Like Brian Clough is one of the most historical and important figures in English football

and he was there for a long time. It's funny because back in those days, their number one opponent was? Liverpool. Liverpool. Yeah, and now it's come full circle. So that's why yesterday's game was so exciting. Yeah. They have a Greek owner and a Portuguese manager,

by the way. Nuno Espirito Santo, formerly of Tottenham, and Wolves and a couple other places. Give us a moocow on that. Get your What We Learns into the the Dunbar Lumber text line. Uh, we'll see if Halford has one or if any of the dogs has a what we learned. You're listening to the Halford and

Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Uh, before we go today, break, I need to tell you about Rogers Xfinity TV. The mystery has been solved. Watch all new seasons of your favorite true crime shows on investigation discovery available on channel 413 and only on Rogers Xfinity TV.

Hey, it's Vic Nazar, have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets, weekdays 3-4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Now for my favorite part of the show. What does it say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God. This is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show.

On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. It's what we learn time It's what we learn time On the show 833 on a Wednesday, happy Wednesday everybody Halford Brough Sportsnet 650 Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service or parts. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn time.

Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. Okay, I got what we learned and regular Zach has what we learned as well. My, what we learned is that I have started the Macklin Celebrini tracker. It's called the tracklin Celebrini. So I did there. Yeah.

Okay. Why? He's phenomenal. I think that I'm going to recalibrate my goals. When it's not to try and get Connor Bredard out of Chicago, it's to try and get Connor Bredard out of Chicago and Macklin Celebrini out of San Jose, bring them both home. Well, the Canucks might be in the market for another first line center and second line center. You move two centers, get them out of here. You bring in two centers. Macklin Celebrini,

two assists last night in the third period to help the sharks double up the red wings, six, three, pretty impressive victory because the red wings have been on a heater. They had one seven straight prior to that. Celebrini became the fastest player in sharks franchise history to reach 30 NHL points. 18 years old. He's basically a point of game guy. I am, I knew he was good. Don't get me wrong. First overall pick, a lot of hype around him, saw him play a bunch. Dad, Rick Sellebrini came on the show, good friend of the program. Now that's what happens when you come on the show once. Um, I, despite

knowing a bunch about him and knowing that he was good, I am not blown away, but almost blown away how good he is. He is phenomenal. The 200 foot game is great. I think he's better offensively than a lot of people predicted. 18 years old coming in and playing on a shark's team that I'm not gonna lie is actually kind of fun to watch. They play with energy.

Yeah. They play with a lot of energy. Compared to the situation that Bedard's in in Chicago, and by the way, I don't put any of this on Bedard. He's in a bad situation in Chicago. Chicago stinks. I think the rookie of the year race is actually pretty interesting. It's great. Celebrini, you got Mitch Goff in Philly, Lane Hudson in Montreal. He's terrific. He's actually

leading in points right now, but only because Celebrini was injured. Hudson's played nine more games than him, has four more points. Then you can't forget Dustin Wolf in Calgary. I'm glad you brought this up because I think all the races actually going to be interesting because the Norris now, Quinn Hughes is obviously part of that, Kale McCarr, Zach Rurensky and Columbus is getting a lot of pub now. Yep. Deservedly so. The Calder race would be very cool if the three finalists were a forward, a defenseman and a goalie. I'm trying to think of the last time that might've happened, I don't know.

But all three make pretty compelling cases. But for me, the tracklin' Celebrini as I monitor his play night to night, very impressive from the young man, Mookow that. Who's actually the heart trophy favorite right now? Would it be dry or McKinnon? I say McKinnon, but a lot of people say dry Cytl. Dry Cytl is very good. I don't know if you're aware of this or not. I saw it all as 31 goals.

Yeah. He's very... I was looking at the goals- He's going to be so disappointed when McDavid leaves. McDavid's not carrying his weight this year. By the way, on the subject of goal scoring, I was doing the research the other day because the Jets had so many goal scorers and they had, I was like, wow, the Jets have 220 goal scorers already. That's pretty impressive. So then I went down the list, you know, Tampa Bay has 420 goal scorers already. They score a lot of goals. Yeah, but it's all defensive issues. It's Kucherov, Hegel, Braden point, Braden point to sit yesterday's game because he missed a team meeting.

Sat had a good one. He said the meeting was pointless. Ha! Ha! Ah, ha, ha! The fourth guy on that list. Ah! The fourth guy on that list is Jay Gensel, by the way. So four guys in Tampa have 20 goals already. Anyway, regular Zach, I stole a bit of your thunder there.

It's your turn. What did you learn over the last 24 hours? I learned that Patrick Mahomes is better at throwing footballs than he is at naming children. Had another kid and uh, either of you know of top or end what uh, what are his kids names? The theme of his kids names are he's this is his third kid now. Yeah, they're themed.

Oh they are they very much are. So his newest kid, welcome to the world Golden Ray Mahomes. Yeah so he's got yeah I want wanna say bronze was one of his kids. You're completely correct. Yeah. Bronze and sterling was the other one. Right, so not silver, but sterling. Like sterling is sort of normal, bronze is, that's rough.

But aren't you essentially saying like bronze, you're the worst. You are my least favorite child. Clearly have a favorite. And then even silver, it's like, why aren't you gold? Like like why aren't you gold? But it's not just like this guy over here golden, but it's not just Ray It's gold golden Ray his next child participation certificate my homes is gonna have a tough Like imagine your legal name is golden Ray You got all old party you got to stop at three at that point We're shutting it down podiums full no more children. I'm pretty sure a participation certificate would have made little Jason cry

like if you get that you just that's a ribbon that you look at and you're like Get it out of my sight. I also want to add here though. That's Get this out of my sight. I also want to add here though, that's the participation of us, get this out of here, this crap. The kid, the first kid's name, Bronze, his name isn't actually Bronze. What is it? It's Patrick Malm is the third, but it's Patrick Bronze Mahomes,

and I guess he goes by the name Bronze. Okay, but what's the new one? Golden Ray. So is golden like his legal, like on his like birth certificate, the first word is golden? Yeah, golden ray so is golden like his legal like on his like birth certificate the first word is golden yeah golden Ray with a golden ray all those girls golden tate Yeah, gold is not that uncommon of a name a lot of people use it some people use a couple people It's not golden ray you ever met anyone with the first name golden golden tate and now golden ray Mahomes

So I neither haven't met either of them, but so is Golden Ray Sterling Sky and then Patrick Bronze. So that's how that works. I would suggest maybe just stop there. That's it. You're good on the children and the names and everything else. Good job, Zach.

Moocow that. Ah! Fire up the Dom Matrix. There's some humanoid submissions for What We Learned. What We Learned has always brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Celebrate every goal at AJ's Pizza. Get $6 pints of Pilsner during Vancouver hockey game nights. And that of course will be tomorrow night when the Canucks take on the Kings.

You can get it only at AJ's Pizza at 325 East Broadway. If you want to do takeout, order AJ's.Pizza. Unsigned What We Learned, the Canucks need some players who can bring speed through center, way too slow from their hash marks to the opposite blue line. Yeah, the Canucks need more speed. A lot of the time when you can move the puck better and more efficiently though, it looks like you're faster.

But I don't disagree that they need some more speed. They tried to address that in the off season, they did to a certain extent, but maybe not effectively enough. Marcus and Gibson's, what we learned, I learned the Canucks haven't won back to back games since December 1st. If they can't string a few together, they

aren't winning a wild card spot. Yeah. And you have to go back to November for the last time they won in regulation, back to back. Yeah. They went in, they beat Ottawa and then remember the game in Boston where they were totally outplayed and Lankton stood on its head

and they stole one off the Bruins. That was the last time they won two in a row. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be very, very, they're going to have to pile up a lot of loser points if they don't string together some sort of winning streak or a few winning streaks together if they want to make the playoffs.

I don't, you know what, I don't count two games as a winning streak. Three is when I call it a streak. Two is two, just a couple. Just back to back, just consecutive wins. Yeah, that's not a streak. Can't call it a streak. But it is a streak. No, it's not a streak.

Because you've done more than one win. No, I don't know. It's got to be three. I think it's got to be three. I'm kind of with, I rarely say this, but I'm with Halford on this. Two games is just, yeah, like we won a couple in a row. Like two game winning streak? Oh, congratulations.

What happened after that? We lost six in a row. Oh, by the way, we got some answers to the, are there any other golden names out there? Goldie Hawn. Goldie Hawn is what we forgot. Goldmember and Gold Dust, remember him? Yep, those aren't names. I don't think those are legal names.

Legal documents. Gold Dust isn't his real name. Goldmember was actually a character from a comedy movie. All of it fictional, a fictional name within a fictional universe. Scott with a What We Learn, positive Canuck news does exist Abbotsford Canucks. That is Atu Ratu had a four point night for the Abbotsford Canucks with a goal and three assists. I haven't thought about old Atu Ratu in a while.

Maybe we should call him up, give him a chance. Uh, Austin and Langley. Before that though, cause I was thinking about the Abbotsford Canucks, who's killing it with Abbotsford Niners? Branstrom or. Branstrom, the highlights that the Canucks, the Abbotsford Canucks are posting. He looks unreal down in the AHL.

Yeah. Well, I can't wait until they go up against Coachella Valley and Branstrom is going to be like, you got the Daniel Sprung job today. You're shutting him down. Daniel Sprung looks even better. He looks incredible in the AHL. All the former Canucks that are killing it in the American League this year. It's so nice.

When I saw, do you remember when he was traded? Who? Uh, sprung. Yeah. And, uh, then I saw him skating out in Burnaby. I was at some hockey tournament. I was like, I was like Daniel sprung skating with a bunch of BCHL guys. And I think it took some time for his, uh, the paperwork to go through

so we could work in the States. Um, he is so big and skilled. Yeah. He is unbelievably talented. And that's why he keeps getting these chances. And people are like, the coaches are like, do you play defense at all? Are you generally aware of what happens in your own end?

And he usually answers with, not really. Someone tweeted the video at us, his post-game remarks after his first game in the American League He had like two roles in it. Yeah, and he is I'm paraphrasing, but he essentially said he's like I'm too good for this league Mm-hmm. He's like and then everyone was like he's kind of is he was like I had to slow it down Yeah, like I had to slow down my thought process to like go at their speed level. Yeah, like so demeaning. Yeah He slowed it down. He's like I even had time to think about my own end. Yeah.

And then his teammates were like, guess what? We all ride the same bus to the next game, pal. Sprung in a limo. Yeah. His cell phone on the ice. Austin and Langley, what we learned, the scariest part for the Canucks is they are generating basically nothing at 5 and 5

and are shooting way above expected. Things could be a lot worse if it wasn't for a guy named Quinn Hughes. Hashtag Hughes for heart. Trey the Gulf Island ferry worker. What we learned, I learned that despite a 6-1 loss with a single power play goal against, the worst plus minus on the team was minus two.

Yeah, way to spread it out there. Way to spread out the dashes. Did you know? Nils Holglund was the only guy that finished even last night. Did you know that the first four goals that the Winnipeg Jets scored last night were against each of the four Canucks lines? Not a single line was on for more than a single goal.

They spread out the suck throughout all four of the lines. It was very well done by the Canucks. That's a good motto. That's their new slogan. Spread out the suck. Cause they write that up. Was that Lankton's worst game as a Canuck?

In terms of the goals that he allowed, I mean, the first one was dreadful. The second one was a bad rebound. Yeah, it was. And then the fourth one, I guess he was screened. I hope he was screened on that long time shot by Pjolk. That was his worst game. He actually decided to embody the ethos of the rest of the team was following up

a great performance. Yeah. The really lousy performance. I got one here. I have a feeling that Demko's gonna be in there for the Kings game. And if he isn't, then we should all be like, okay, why not? Yeah.

What's going on here? You're on like high alert if he's not in there for the Kings game. Yeah. On sign one here, on like high alert. If he's not in there for the Kings game. Yeah. Uh, on sign one here, hashtag WWL, what we learned. I learned that sports net did something right last night. That's almost a compliment. We'll take it. Tiger woods played in the TGL last night. So it gave people a good distraction from the connects game. So the TGL,

I know I should know this cause I I'm a good company man and this is a chief property for sports net TGL is where they send the know this cause I'm a good company man and this is a chief property for Sportsnet. TGL is where they send the PGA guys to Topgolf and they hang out for a few hours, right? It's a little more than that, but it's Simulator Golf. Topgolf League?

No, I think it's Tomorrowgolf League or something like that. People were confused about the name. Regardless, I'm joking. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's operation. I know what it is and I've watched it. And it's terrific because it's on Sportsnet. I love simulator golf. High quality programming.

Just amazing. I love simulators. I love golf. And I especially love blowouts in simulator golf. So what happened? Tiger's team got roasted. Oh, it's on the screen right now, Sportsnet, a very good, uh, television station. And he's hit one into a screen.

That's Kevin Kisner. Yeah. Kis did not have a good one. He bladed one off the flagpole last night. Uh, who's the other guy? Uh, I actually have the teams here. Okay. Let me just pull it up.

So, um, Tiger's on a team, Jupiter. He's from, he plays out at Jupiter, Florida. Like, um, Tiger's on a team, Jupiter. He's from, he plays out at Jupiter, Florida. Like the planet? It's in Florida. Jupiter links golf club, uh, Tiger, Kevin Kisner, Tom Kim and Max Homa. Yeah, Max Homa.

So some guys, so some guys with some really good personality there, except for Tiger, Kisner, Tom Kim and Max Homa, and then they got smoked by the Los Angeles golf club. They did it for LA. Tommy Fleetwood, Colin Morikawa, Rosie Justin Rose and Sahith Figala. He's my favorite golfer. He's really good. Yeah.

Yeah. He's really, he's, he's an enthusiastic guy. Yeah. I don't, I don't like, I don't get this at all. I know that golf is. I think it's going to get this at all. I know that golf is- I think it's gonna be short-lived. I know that golf is going through a massive midlife crisis right now. What's the point of it?

Why are they doing it? Golf is going through a massive midlife crisis right now. Have you ever, you're a little young. Have you ever had a buddy- I am five years younger than you. Yeah, but you're young, let me finish. You're young to have a friend that would be going through a midlife crisis.

Any dog hasn't even gone through puberty yet. Still waiting. Yeah, going through that puberty crisis. Any day now. As a 45 year old male, I have friends that are going through their midlife crises right now. Oh, how does that look?

What are they doing? A lot of it looks like they got hair. Yeah. Bro, what was your midlife crisis 20 years ago? Oh, how does that look? What are they doing? A lot of it looks like they got hair Prof what was your midlife crisis 20 years ago? Anyway So a lot yeah midlife crisis in the traditional sense would be like go get a sports car The newer one is having a fair right the newer one is you go to Turkey and you get new hair not an affair but hair And so golf and then the affair hair, not an affair, but hair.

So golf. And then the affair, because I have confidence now. Right. Turkey hair confidence. Just got to wait a couple of weeks for it to grow. That's it. Now golf is going through its version of a midlife crisis where it's gotten kind of stale and things are different now. You know what's really funny is that even golf fans don't have the energy to fight about live

golf anymore. No. It's just like figure it out guys. Yeah. And part of this TGL thing I think is a way for some of the golfers to just get paid more. And everyone's tired of seeing the golfers make so much money.

They really are. There's a definite seeing the golfers make so much money. Right. They really are. You know. There's a definite fatigue in golf. Phil in a big way, even though he went about it in a really dumb PR way, was absolutely right. Like he used Live Golf to juice the purses for the PGA Tour and it worked. But now you've got all this talent split across all this different stuff, whether it's the regular PGA tour, live golf, this TGL league, and they're

all making good money, but that doesn't make for, I've said this before, like players making money doesn't make it more interesting. Like I don't, I don't care. I know. And, and, and, and most people don't and the golfers that really care about the sport, they obviously want to get paid and it's important that they're well off.

But really what I think we're seeing is that everyone wants it to go back like it was before. With more money. 100%. They want it to go back to, hey, here's a golf tournament. It doesn't have to be a major, but let's to, hey, here's a golf tournament. It doesn't have to be a major, but let's say it's just like a big golf tournament. Are all the best players there?

They had it perfect. All the best players would show up, they'd play a bunch of golf, it would be competitive down the stretch, you'd know all the guys, they'd make a lot of money, and then they'd go to the next event. It was perfect. They didn't need to mess with the formula.

You know who I blame? The PGA Tour leadership. Yeah. They screwed up a good thing. They tried to fight, live golf, live golf, went, okay, well, we're going to pay these guys a lot of money. We're going to split it up and then eventually you're going to take our money.

So they wasted all that time fighting this war and they seem to have acquiesced, but they can't figure out a way to go forward with it. I also want to point out that on the subject of midlife crises, the most interesting thing of the whole live and PGA tour was when Phil Mekison reinvented himself as Dark Phil, like Divorced Dad energy film. He was like Hulk Hogan, NWO. Yeah. I don't even know wrestling, but I know that.

He had a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve, he carried around a knife. It was awesome. That was the best thing that came from it. Uh, Lincoln and Surrey, what we learned the number of times, Tuckett said his team needs to be hard last night, just shows how soft he still thinks they are.

The good one season bad enough to get a coach fired next season has persisted with three coaches now and it's obvious this core needs to change. I do not disagree, Lincoln. And if it ends badly with Tockett, either with the Canucks saying, sorry Tock, you've lost the room, or Tockett saying, sorry guys, you've lost me, bye bye.

Then you just look at the core and you say, listen, there needs to be seismic changes. So I actually, it's funny, cause I brought it up earlier in the show, and I don't even know if I necessarily believe my own analysis, because I think that the narrative. It's confidence right there. Yeah, just keep listening to me people.

I just think that it's hard to look at the way that I pointed it out. And it's like, this core had Travis Green and they played well under Green and then they didn't. Then they had Bruce Boudreaux and they played well under Bruce Boudreaux and then they didn't. And now it's a third coach.

You have, like, I still think that this core has something. I'm not ready to put this at the feet of the core. At the same time. I am. It's hard when you're on your third coach. You can't blame three coaches in a row. You can have your criticisms and reservations about Green and Boudreaux and talk it,

but when you line the three of them up, you're like, man, at a certain point, you have to stop blaming the guy in charge and start blaming the players. You still seem like a very immature team. You gotta trade one of the core to shake things up and maybe fix the room at the same time. I do wonder that- If they're both a problem.

I do wonder- I mean, I know what I'm saying there. It's crazy, but yeah. It's crazy, but I don't know. There are some groups that don't know how to deal with success is that they either forget how they got there or they get fat and happy, or maybe they have a sense of entitlement and arrogant that shouldn't belong. Well, Patrick Alveen said himself that he

thought the team came into training camp without the required humility. Right. That's a bad sign. That's a bad sign. Like you didn't do anything last year. You made it to the second round of the playoffs, which was great, but a lot of teams,

eight of them made it to the second round of the playoffs. Like you did something that eight other or seven other teams did last year. Congratulations. You did that once. And it was a great year. I loved it. I had a good time. I had a good time at our watch party, like 17 beers. It was amazing. But like, I just assumed that that would be the first step in the progression forward, not the end step. Mark, uh, writes in, I learned that Alias Pedersen has now fallen under a point per game for his career after his recent run.

Now with 441 points in 444 career games, time to end the myth that he's a hundred point alien and accept that he's an 80 point player signed to an awful contract. I don't know what Pedersen is. You know, part of me is I've never been more flummoxed by a player watching a player. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I do think I still hold out hope if he remains

with the Canucks that he can have an off season of hard training and get stronger. And the Canucks that he can have an off season of hard training and get stronger. And the Canucks should babysit him at every turn of the off season. I don't know if that's legal under the CBA, break the CBA if you have to. Yeah, just pay the fine.

You know. The stars had a practice over Christmas, $100,000, still got that practice in there. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. All right, so the Canucks are going to play the Kings tomorrow. They'll probably come out with a great effort. And on Friday, we'll be talking about the trade deadline

and what the Canucks should add. Yeah. So back. PD's back. Miller's back. We're so back. And then Saturday, they're going to lay a huge egg against the Edmonton Oilers.

And Monday will come in hot. We're not back anymore. That's for Monday. OK, we also need to come up with a guest list tomorrow. So we're going to go do that now, which means we've got to say goodbye. the Edmonton Oilers and Monday will come in hot. We're not back anymore. That's for Monday. It's so over. Okay, we also need to come up with a guest list tomorrow so we're gonna go do that now, which means we gotta say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford,

he's been Jason Brough, he's been Adog, he's been regular Zach, this has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.